Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by a drug cartel to smuggle into Nigeria 2, 465, 000 tablets of the pharmaceutical opioid in 225mg and 250mg.
The drug weighing 2,356kgs with an estimated street value of N1, 040, 000, 000 was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday.
He said the seizure of the drug, last Friday, came barely a week after about 13.5 million pills of the same opioid worth over N8.8 billion were recovered by the agency’s operatives from one of the mansions of a billionaire drug baron in the highbrow residential estate, Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki, Lagos.
“Following credible intelligence, the agency had shown interest in the consignment of 52 cartons that came into Nigeria from Karachi, Pakistan, with six different airway bills via Ethiopian Airline flight, comprising seven cartons of 250mg of a brand called tamral and 45 cartons of 225mg, branded as tramaking.
“Soon after its arrival at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA called for a joint examination of the consignment with other stakeholders and after its information was confirmed by all, the 52 cartons of the seized substance, which are above the recommended threshold for medical use and banned in the country, were moved to the agency’s facility,” Babafemi disclosed.
In the same vein, another bid to export through the airport 15 parcels of cannabis and 600grams of tramadol 225mg concealed in a sack of crayfish to Dubai, UAE, was equally thwarted by operatives who seized the consignment and subsequently arrested a freight agent, Osahor Alex Ekwueme, who presented it for export.
